Execution of instructions directly from input source

ABSTRACT

A computer array ( 10 ) has a plurality of computers ( 12 ). The computers ( 12 ) communicate with each other asynchronously, and the computers ( 12 ) themselves operate in a generally asynchronous manner internally. When one computer ( 12 ) attempts to communicate with another it goes to sleep until the other computer ( 12 ) is ready to complete the transaction, thereby saving power and reducing heat production. The sleeping computer ( 12 ) can be awaiting data or instructions ( 12 ). In the case of instructions, the sleeping computer ( 12 ) can be waiting to store the instructions or to immediately execute the instructions. In the later case, the instructions are placed in an instruction register ( 30   a ) when they are received and executed therefrom, without first placing the instructions first into memory. The instructions can include a micro-loop ( 100 ) which is capable of performing a series of operations repeatedly. In one application, the sleeping computer ( 12 ) is awakened by an input such that it commences an action that would otherwise have required an interrupt of an otherwise active computer.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/441,784(now U.S. Pat. No. 7,752,422) filed May 26, 2006 by the same inventor,which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/355,513filed Feb. 16, 2006 by the same inventor, and claims the benefit ofprovisional U.S. Application Ser. No. 60/788,265 filed Mar. 31, 2006 bythe same inventor, and U.S. Application Ser. No. 60/797,345 filed May 3,2006 by the same inventor, all of which are incorporated herein byreference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the field of computers and computerprocessors, and more particularly to a method and means for allowing acomputer to execute instructions as they are received from an externalsource without first storing said instruction, and an associated methodfor using that method and means to facilitate communications betweencomputers and the ability of a computer to use the available resourcesof another computer. The predominant current usage of the presentinventive direct execution method and apparatus is in the combination ofmultiple computers on a single microchip, wherein operating efficiencyis important not only because of the desire for increased operatingspeed but also because of the power savings and heat reduction that area consequence of the greater efficiency.

2. Description of the Background Art

In the art of computing, processing speed is a much desired quality, andthe quest to create faster computers and processors is ongoing. However,it is generally acknowledged in the industry that the limits forincreasing the speed in microprocessors are rapidly being approached, atleast using presently known technology. Therefore, there is anincreasing interest in the use of multiple processors to increaseoverall computer speed by sharing computer tasks among the processors.

The use of multiple processors tends to create a need for communicationbetween the processors. Indeed, there may well be a great deal ofcommunication between the processors, such that a significant portion oftime is spent in transferring instructions and data there between. Wherethe amount of such communication is significant, each additionalinstruction that must be executed in order to accomplish it places anincremental delay in the process which, cumulatively, can be verysignificant. The conventional method for communicating instructions ordata from one computer to another involves first storing the data orinstruction in the receiving computer and then, subsequently, calling itfor execution (in the case of an instruction) or for operation thereon(in the case of data).

It would be useful to reduce the number of steps required to transmit,receive, and then use information, in the form of data or instructions,between computers. However, to the inventor's knowledge no prior artsystem has streamlined the above described process in a significantmanner.

Also, in the prior art it is known that it is necessary to “get theattention” of a computer from time to time. That is, sometimes eventhough a computer may be busy with one task, another time sensitive taskrequirement can occur that may necessitate temporarily diverting thecomputer away from the first task. Examples include, but are not limitedto, instances where a user input device is used to provide input to thecomputer. In such cases, the computer might need to temporarilyacknowledge the input and/or react in accordance with the input. Then,the computer will either continue what it was doing before the input orelse change what it was doing based upon the input. Although an externalinput is used as an example here, the same situation occurs when thereis a potential conflict for the attention of the arithmetic logic unit(ALU) between internal aspects of the computer, as well.

When receiving data and change in status from Input/Output (I/O) portsthere have been two methods available in the prior art. One has been to“poll” the port, which involves reading the status of the port at fixedintervals to determine whether any data has been received or a change ofstatus has occurred. However, polling the port consumes considerabletime and resources which could usually be better used doing otherthings. A better alternative has often been the use of “interrupts”.When using interrupts, a processor can go about performing its assignedtask and then, when a I/O Port/Device needs attention as indicated bythe fact that a byte has been received or status has changed, it sendsan Interrupt Request (IRQ) to the processor. Once the processor receivesan Interrupt Request, it finishes its current instruction, places a fewthings on the stack, and executes the appropriate Interrupt ServiceRoutine (ISR) which can remove the byte from the port and place it in abuffer. Once the ISR has finished, the processor returns to where itleft off. Using this method, the processor doesn't have to waste time,looking to see if the I/O Device is in need of attention, but rather thedevice will only service the interrupt when it needs attention. However,the use of interrupts, itself, is far less than desirable in many cases,since there can be a great deal of overhead associated with the use ofinterrupts. For example, each time an interrupt occurs, a computer mayhave to temporarily store certain data relating to the task it waspreviously trying to accomplish, then load data pertaining to theinterrupt, and then reload the data necessary for the prior task oncethe interrupt is handled. Obviously, it would be desirable to reduce oreliminate all of this time and resource consuming overhead. However, noprior art method has been developed which has alleviated the need forinterrupts.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide anapparatus and method for increasing the speed of operation where two ormore computers are communicating data and/or instructions there between.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide anapparatus and method for providing substantial computing powerinexpensively.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide anapparatus and method for accomplishing computationally intensive tasksin a minimal amount of time.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a computerdevice that produces a great amount of processing capability.

It is still another object of the present invention to increase theefficiency of communications between computers and computer controlleddevices.

It is still another object of the present invention to increase theefficiency of communications between computers.

It is yet another object of the present invention to increase theefficiency of the manner in which computers communicate with each otherand with the other devices, such as user input devices and the like.

Briefly, a known embodiment of the present invention is a computerhaving its own memory such that it is capable of independentcomputational functions. In one embodiment of the invention a pluralityof the computers are arranged in an array. In order to accomplish taskscooperatively, the computers must pass data and/or instructions from oneto another. Since all of the computers working simultaneously willtypically provide much more computational power than is required by mosttasks, and since whatever algorithm or method that is used to distributethe task among the several computers will almost certainly result in anuneven distribution of assignments, it is anticipated that at leastsome, and perhaps most, of the computers may not be activelyparticipating in the accomplishment of the task at any given time.Therefore, it would be desirable to find a way for under-used computersto be available to assist their busier neighbors by “lending” eithercomputational resources, memory, or both. In order that such arelationship be efficient and useful it would further be desirable thatcommunications and interaction between neighboring computers be as quickand efficient as possible. Therefore, the present invention provides ameans and method for a computer to execute instructions and/or act ondata provided directly from another computer, rather than having toreceive and then store the data and/or instructions prior to suchaction. It will be noted that this invention will also be useful forinstructions that will act as an intermediary to cause a computer to“pass on” instructions or data from one other computer to yet anothercomputer.

In the embodiment described, in order to prevent unnecessary consumptionof power and unnecessary production of heat, when a computer attempts tocommunicate with one or more of its neighbors it will be in a dormantmode consuming essentially no power until the neighbor or one of theneighbors acts to complete the communication. However, this is not anecessary aspect of the present invention. Furthermore, in order toaccomplish the desired savings of power and reduced heat production itis desirable that the initiating computer cease, or at leastsignificantly reduce, its power consumption while it is awaitingcompletion of the communication. It is conceivable that this could beaccomplished by any of a number of means. For example, if the computerwere timed by either an internal or an external clock, then that clockcould be slowed or stopped during that period of time. Indeed, it iscontemplated that such an embodiment may be implemented for reasonsoutside the scope of this invention, although the embodiment presentlydescribed is the best and most efficient embodiment now known to theinventor.

One aspect of the invention described herein is that instructions anddata are treated essentially identically whether their source is theinternal memory of the computer or else whether such instructions anddata are being received from another source, such as another computer,an external communications port, or the like. This is significantbecause “additional” operations, such as storing the data orinstructions and thereafter recalling them from internal memory becomesunnecessary, thereby reducing the number of instructions required andincreasing the speed of operation of the computers involved.

Another aspect of the described embodiment is that very small groups ofinstructions can be communicated to another computer, generallysimultaneously, such that relatively simple operations that requirerepetitive iterations can be quickly and easily accomplished. This willgreatly expedite the process of communication between the computers.

Still another aspect of the described embodiment is that, since thereare a quantity of computers available to perform various tasks, andsince one or more computers can be placed in a dormant state whereinthey use essentially no power while awaiting an input, such computerscan be assigned the task of awaiting inputs, thereby reducing oreliminating the need to “interrupt” other computers that may beaccomplishing other tasks.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome clear to those skilled in the art in view of the description ofmodes of carrying out the invention, and the industrial applicabilitythereof, as described herein and as illustrated in the several figuresof the drawing. The objects and advantages listed are not an exhaustivelist of all possible advantages of the invention. Moreover, it will bepossible to practice the invention even where one or more of theintended objects and/or advantages might be absent or not required inthe application.

Further, those skilled in the art will recognize that variousembodiments of the present invention may achieve one or more, but notnecessarily all, of the described objects and/or advantages.Accordingly, the objects and/or advantages described herein are notessential elements of the present invention, and should not be construedas limitations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a computer array, according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a detailed diagram showing a subset of the computers of FIG. 1and a more detailed view of the interconnecting data buses of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram depicting a general layout of one of thecomputers of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of an instruction word accordingto the present inventive application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of the slot sequencer 42 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram depicting an example of a micro-loop accordingto the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram depicting an example of the inventive methodfor executing instructions from a port;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram depicting an example of the inventive improvedmethod for alerting a computer; and

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram depicting another example of an inventivemethod for alerting a computer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This invention is described in the following description with referenceto the Figures, in which like numbers represent the same or similarelements. While this invention is described in terms of modes forachieving this invention's objectives, it will be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art that variations may be accomplished in view of theseteachings without deviating from the spirit or scope of the presentinvention.

The embodiments and variations of the invention described herein, and/orshown in the drawings, are presented by way of example only and are notlimiting as to the scope of the invention. Unless otherwise specificallystated, individual aspects and components of the invention may beomitted or modified, or may have substituted therefore knownequivalents, or as yet unknown substitutes such as may be developed inthe future or such as may be found to be acceptable substitutes in thefuture. The invention may also be modified for a variety of applicationswhile remaining within the spirit and scope of the claimed invention,since the range of potential applications is great, and since it isintended that the present invention be adaptable to many suchvariations.

A known mode for carrying out the invention is an array of individualcomputers. The array is depicted in a diagrammatic view in FIG. 1 and isdesignated therein by the general reference character 10. The computerarray 10 has a plurality (twenty four in the example shown) of computers12 (sometimes also referred to as “cores” or “nodes” in the example ofan array). In the example shown, all of the computers 12 are located ona single die 14. According to the present invention, each of thecomputers 12 is a generally independently functioning computer, as willbe discussed in more detail hereinafter. The computers 12 areinterconnected by a plurality (the quantities of which will be discussedin more detail hereinafter) of interconnecting data buses 16. In thisexample, the data buses 16 are bidirectional, asynchronous, high-speed,parallel data buses, although it is within the scope of the inventionthat other interconnecting means might be employed for the purpose. Inthe present embodiment of the array 10, not only is data communicationbetween the computers 12 asynchronous, the individual computers 12 alsooperate in an internally asynchronous mode. This has been found by theinventor to provide important advantages. For example, since a clocksignal does not have to be distributed throughout the computer array 10,a great deal of power is saved. Furthermore, not having to distribute aclock signal eliminates many timing problems that could limit the sizeof the array 10 or cause other known difficulties. Also, the fact thatthe individual computers operate asynchronously saves a great deal ofpower, since each computer will use essentially no power when it is notexecuting instructions, since there is no clock running therein.

One skilled in the art will recognize that there will be additionalcomponents on the die 14 that are omitted from the view of FIG. 1 forthe sake of clarity. Such additional components include power buses,external connection pads, and other such common aspects of amicroprocessor chip.

Computer 12 e is an example of one of the computers 12 that is not onthe periphery of the array 10. That is, computer 12 e has fourorthogonally adjacent computers 12 a, 12 b, 12 c and 12 d. This groupingof computers 12 a through 12 e will be used, by way of example,hereinafter in relation to a more detailed discussion of thecommunications between the computers 12 of the array 10. As can be seenin the view of FIG. 1, interior computers such as computer 12 e willhave four other computers 12 with which they can directly communicatevia the buses 16. In the following discussion, the principles discussedwill apply to all of the computers 12 except that the computers 12 onthe periphery of the array 10 will be in direct communication with onlythree or, in the case of the corner computers 12, only two other of thecomputers 12.

FIG. 2 is a more detailed view of a portion of FIG. 1 showing only someof the computers 12 and, in particular, computers 12 a through 12 e,inclusive. The view of FIG. 2 also reveals that the data buses 16 eachhave a read line 18, a write line 20 and a plurality (eighteen, in thisexample) of data lines 22. The data lines 22 are capable of transferringall the bits of one eighteen-bit instruction word generallysimultaneously in parallel. It should be noted that, in one embodimentof the invention, some of the computers 12 are mirror images of adjacentcomputers. However, whether the computers 12 are all orientedidentically or as mirror images of adjacent computers is not an aspectof this presently described invention. Therefore, in order to betterdescribe this invention, this potential complication will not bediscussed further herein.

According to the present inventive method, a computer 12, such as thecomputer 12 e can set high one, two, three or all four of its read lines18 such that it is prepared to receive data from the respective one,two, three or all four adjacent computers 12. Similarly, it is alsopossible for a computer 12 to set one, two, three or all four of itswrite lines 20 high. Although the inventor does not believe that thereis presently any practical value to setting more than one of the writelines 20 of a computer 12 high at one time, doing so is not beyond thescope of this invention, as it conceivable that a use for such anoperation may occur in the future.

When one of the adjacent computers 12 a, 12 b, 12 c or 12 d sets a writeline 20 between itself and the computer 12 e high, if the computer 12 ehas already set the corresponding read line 18 high, then a word istransferred from that computer 12 a, 12 b, 12 c or 12 d to the computer12 e on the associated data lines 22. Then, the sending computer 12 willrelease the write line 20 and the receiving computer (12 e in thisexample) pulls both the write line 20 and the read line 18 low. Thelatter action will acknowledge to the sending computer 12 that the datahas been received. Note that the above description is not intendednecessarily to denote the sequence of events in order. In actualpractice, the receiving computer may try to set the write line 20 lowslightly before the sending computer 12 releases (stops pulling high)its write line 20. In such an instance, as soon as the sending computer12 releases its write line 20 the write line 20 will be pulled low bythe receiving computer 12 e.

In the present example, only a programming error would cause bothcomputers 12 on the opposite ends of one of the buses 16 to try to sethigh the read line 18 there-between. Also, it would be error for bothcomputers 12 on the opposite ends of one of the buses 16 to try to sethigh the write line 18 there-between at the same time. Similarly, asdiscussed above, it is not currently anticipated that it would bedesirable to have a single computer 12 set more than one of its fourwrite lines 20 high. However, it is presently anticipated that therewill be occasions wherein it is desirable to set different combinationsof the read lines 18 high such that one of the computers 12 can be in await state awaiting data from the first one of the chosen computers 12to set its corresponding write line 20 high.

In the example discussed above, computer 12 e was described as settingone or more of its read lines 18 high before an adjacent computer(selected from one or more of the computers 12 a, 12 b, 12 c or 12 d)has set its write line 20 high. However, this process can certainlyoccur in the opposite order. For example, if the computer 12 e wereattempting to write to the computer 12 a, then computer 12 e would setthe write line 20 between computer 12 e and computer 12 a to high. Ifthe read line 18 between computer 12 e and computer 12 a has then notalready been set to high by computer 12 a, then computer 12 e willsimply wait until computer 12 a does set that read line 20 high. Then,as discussed above, when both of a corresponding pair of write line 18and read line 20 are high the data awaiting to be transferred on thedata lines 22 is transferred. Thereafter, the receiving computer 12(computer 12 a, in this example) sets both the read line 18 and thewrite line 20 between the two computers (12 e and 12 a in this example)to low as soon as the sending computer 12 e releases the write line 18.

Whenever a computer 12 such as the computer 12 e has set one of itswrite lines 20 high in anticipation of writing it will simply wait,using essentially no power, until the data is “requested”, as describedabove, from the appropriate adjacent computer 12, unless the computer 12to which the data is to be sent has already set its read line 18 high,in which case the data is transmitted immediately. Similarly, whenever acomputer 12 has set one or more of its read lines 18 to high inanticipation of reading it will simply wait, using essentially no power,until the write line 20 connected to a selected computer 12 goes high totransfer an instruction word between the two computers 12.

As discussed above, there may be several potential means and/or methodsto cause the computers 12 to function as described. However, in thispresent example, the computers 12 so behave simply because they areoperating generally asynchronously internally (in addition totransferring data there-between in the asynchronous manner described).That is, instructions are generally completed sequentially. When eithera write or read instruction occurs, there can be no further action untilthat instruction is completed (or, perhaps alternatively, until it isaborted, as by a “reset” or the like). There is no regular clock pulse,in the prior art sense. Rather, a pulse is generated to accomplish anext instruction only when the instruction being executed either is nota read or write type instruction (given that a read or write typeinstruction would require completion, often by another entity) or elsewhen the read or write type operation is, in fact, completed.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram depicting the general layout of an example ofone of the computers 12 of FIGS. 1 and 2. As can be seen in the view ofFIG. 3, each of the computers 12 is a generally self contained computerhaving its own random access memory (RAM) 24 and read only memory (ROM)26. As mentioned previously, the computers 12 are also sometimesreferred to as individual “nodes”, given that they are, in the presentexample, combined on a single chip.

Other basic components of the computer 12 are a return stack 28(including an R register 29, discussed hereinafter), an instruction area30, an arithmetic logic unit (“ALU” or “processor”) 32, a data stack 34and a decode logic section 36 for decoding instructions. One skilled inthe art will be generally familiar with the operation of stack basedcomputers such as the computers 12 of this present example. Thecomputers 12 are dual stack computers having the data stack 34 and theseparate return stack 28.

In this embodiment of the invention, the computer 12 has fourcommunication ports 38 for communicating with adjacent computers 12. Thecommunication ports 38 are tri-state drivers, having an off status, areceive status (for driving signals into the computer 12) and a sendstatus (for driving signals out of the computer 12). Of course, if theparticular computer 12 is not on the interior of the array (FIG. 1) suchas the example of computer 12 e, then one or more of the communicationports 38 will not be used in that particular computer, at least for thepurposes described above.

However, those communication ports 38 that do abut the edge of the die14 can have additional circuitry, either designed into such computer 12or else external to the computer 12 but associated therewith, to causesuch communication port 38 to act as an external I/O port 39 (FIG. 1).Examples of such external I/O ports 39 include, but are not limited to,universal serial bus (USB) ports, RS232 serial bus ports, parallelcommunications ports, analog to digital and/or digital to analogconversion ports, and many other possible variations. No matter whattype of additional or modified circuitry is employed for this purpose,according to the presently described embodiment of the invention themethod of operation of the “external” I/O ports 39 regarding thehandling of instructions and/or data received there from will be aliketo that described, herein, in relation to the “internal” communicationports 38. In FIG. 1 an “edge” computer 12 f is depicted with associatedinterface circuitry 80 (shown in block diagrammatic form) forcommunicating through an external I/O port 39 with an external device82.

In the presently described embodiment, the instruction area 30 includesa number of registers 40 including, in this example, an A register 40 a,a B register 40 b and a P register 40 c. In this example, the A register40 a is a full eighteen-bit register, while the B register 40 b and theP register 40 c are nine-bit registers.

Although the invention is not limited by this example, the presentcomputer 12 is implemented to execute native Forth languageinstructions. As one familiar with the Forth computer language willappreciate, complicated Forth instructions, known as Forth “words” areconstructed from the native processor instructions designed into thecomputer. The collection of Forth words is known as a “dictionary”. Inother languages, this might be known as a “library”. As will bedescribed in greater detail hereinafter, the computer 12 reads eighteenbits at a time from RAM 24, ROM 26 or directly from one of the databuses 16 (FIG. 2). However, since in Forth most instructions (known asoperand-less instructions) obtain their operands directly from thestacks 28 and 34, they are generally only five bits in length, such thatup to four instructions can be included in a single eighteen-bitinstruction word, with the condition that the last instruction in thegroup is selected from a limited set of instructions that require onlythree bits. (In the described embodiment, the two least significant bitsof an instruction in the last position are assumed to be “01”) Alsodepicted in block diagrammatic form in the view of FIG. 3 is a slotsequencer 42.

In this embodiment of the invention, data stack 34 is alast-in-first-out stack for parameters to be manipulated by the ALU 32,and the return stack 28 is a last-in first-out stack for nested returnaddresses used by CALL and RETURN instructions. The return stack 28 isalso used by PUSH, POP and NEXT instructions, as will be discussed insome greater detail, hereinafter. The data stack 34 and the return stack28 are not arrays in memory accessed by a stack pointer, as in manyprior art computers. Rather, the stacks 34 and 28 are an array ofregisters. The top two registers in the data stack 34 are a T register44 and an S register 46. The remainder of the data stack 34 has acircular register array 34 a having eight additional hardware registerstherein numbered, in this example S₂ through S₉. One of the eightregisters in the circular register array 34 a will be selected as theregister below the S register 46 at any time. The value in the shiftregister that selects the stack register to be below S cannot be read orwritten by software. Similarly, the top position in the return stack 28is the dedicated R register 29, while the remainder of the return stack28 has a circular register array 28 a having twelve additional hardwareregisters therein (not specifically shown in the drawing) that arenumbered, in this example R₁ through R₁₁.

In this embodiment of the invention, there is no hardware detection ofstack overflow or undertow conditions. Generally, prior art processorsuse stack pointers and memory management, or the like, such that anerror condition is flagged when a stack pointer goes out of the range ofmemory allocated for the stack. That is because, were the stacks locatedin memory an overflow or underflow would overwrite or use as a stackitem something that is not intended to be part of the stack. However,because the present invention has the circular arrays 28 a and 34 a atthe bottom on the stacks 28 and 34 the stacks 28 and 34 cannot overflowor underflow out of the stack area. Instead, the circular arrays 28 aand 34 a will merely wrap around the circular array of registers.Because the stacks 28 and 34 have finite depth, pushing anything to thetop of a stack 28 or 34 means something on the bottom is beingoverwritten. Pushing more than ten items to the data stack 34, or morethan thirteen items to the return stack 28 must be done with theknowledge that doing so will result in the item at the bottom of thestack 28 or 34 being overwritten. It is the responsibility of softwareto keep track of the number of items on the stacks 28 and 34 and not tryto put more items there than the respective stacks 28 and 34 can hold.The hardware will not detect an overwriting of items at the bottom ofthe stack or flag it as an error. However, it should be noted that thesoftware can take advantage of the circular arrays 28 a and 34 a at thebottom of the stacks 28 and 34 in several ways. As just one example, thesoftware can simply assume that a stack 28 or 34 is ‘empty’ at any time.There is no need to clear old items from the stack as they will bepushed down towards the bottom where they will be lost as the stackfills. So there is nothing to initialize for a program to assume thatthe stack is empty.

In addition to the registers previously discussed herein, theinstruction area 30 also has an 18 bit instruction register 30 a forstoring the instruction word 48 that is presently being used, and anadditional 5 bit opcode register 30 b for the instruction in theparticular instruction presently being executed.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of an instruction word 48. (Itshould be noted that the instruction word 48 can actually containinstructions, data, or some combination thereof.) The instruction word48 consists of eighteen bits 50. This being a binary computer, each ofthe bits 50 will be a ‘1’ or a ‘0’. As previously discussed herein, theeighteen-bit wide instruction word 48 can contain up to fourinstructions 52 in four slots 54 called slot zero 54 a, slot one 54 b,slot two 54 c and slot three 54 d. In the present embodiment of theinvention, the eighteen-bit instruction words 48 are always read as awhole. Therefore, since there is always a potential of having up to fourinstructions in the instruction word 48, a no operation (no-op)instruction is included in the instruction set of the computer 12 toprovide for instances when using all of the available slots 54 might beunnecessary or even undesirable. It should be noted that, according toone particular embodiment of the invention, the polarity (active high ascompared to active low) of bits 50 in alternate slots (specifically,slots one 54 b and three 54 c) is reversed. However, this is not anecessary aspect of the presently described invention and, therefore, inorder to better explain this invention this potential complication isavoided in the following discussion.

FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of the slot sequencer 42 of FIG. 3.As can be seen in the view of FIG. 5, the slot sequencer 42 has aplurality (fourteen in this example) of inverters 56 and one NAND gate58 arranged in a ring, such that a signal is inverted an odd number oftimes as it travels through the fourteen inverters 56 and the NAND gate58. A signal is initiated in the slot sequencer 42 when either of thetwo inputs to an OR gate 60 goes high. A first OR gate input 62 isderived from a bit i4 66 (FIG. 4) of the instruction 52 being executed.If bit i4 is high then that particular instruction 52 is an ALUinstruction, and the i4 bit 66 is ‘1’. When the i4 bit is ‘1’, then thefirst OR gate input 62 is high, and the slot sequencer 42 is triggeredto initiate a pulse that will cause the execution of the nextinstruction 52.

When the slot sequencer 42 is triggered, either by the first OR gateinput 62 going high or by the second OR gate input 64 going high (aswill be discussed hereinafter), then a signal will travel around theslot sequencer 42 twice, producing an output at a slot sequencer output68 each time. The first time the signal passes the slot sequencer output68 it will be low, and the second time the output at the slot sequenceroutput 68 will be high. The relatively wide output from the slotsequencer output 68 is provided to a pulse generator 70 (shown in blockdiagrammatic form) that produces a narrow timing pulse as an output. Oneskilled in the art will recognize that the narrow timing pulse isdesirable to accurately initiate the operations of the computer 12.

When the particular instruction 52 being executed is a read or a writeinstruction, or any other instruction wherein it is not desired that theinstruction 52 being executed triggers immediate execution of the nextinstruction 52 in sequence, then the i4 bit 66 is ‘0’ (low) and thefirst OR gate input 62 is, therefore, also low. One skilled in the artwill recognize that the timing of events in a device such as thecomputers 12 is generally quite critical, and this is no exception. Uponexamination of the slot sequencer 42 one skilled in the art willrecognize that the output from the OR gate 60 must remain high untilafter the signal has circulated past the NAND gate 58 in order toinitiate the second “lap” of the ring. Thereafter, the output from theOR gate 60 will go low during that second “lap” in order to preventunwanted continued oscillation of the circuit.

As can be appreciated in light of the above discussion, when the i4 bit66 is ‘0’, then the slot sequencer 42 will not be triggered—assumingthat the second OR gate input 66, which will be discussed hereinafter,is not high.

As discussed, above, the i4 bit 66 of each instruction 52 is setaccording to whether or not that instruction is a read or write type ofinstruction, as opposed to that instruction being one that requires noinput or output. The remaining bits 50 in the instruction 52 provide theremainder of the particular opcode for that instruction. In the case ofa read or write type instruction, one or more of the bits may be used toindicate where data is to be read from, or written to, in thatparticular computer 12. In the present example of the invention, data tobe written always comes from the T register 44 (the top of the datastack 34), however data can be selectively read into either the Tregister 44 or else the instruction area 30 from where it can beexecuted. That is because, in this particular embodiment of theinvention, either data or instructions can be communicated in the mannerdescribed herein and instructions can, therefore, be executed directlyfrom the data bus 16.

One or more of the bits 50 will be used to indicate which of the ports38, if any, is to be set to read or write. This later operation isoptionally accomplished by using one or more bits to designate aregister 40, such as the A register 40 a, the B register 40 b, or thelike. In such an example, the designated register 40 will be preloadedwith data having a bit corresponding to each of the ports 38 (and, also,any other potential entity with which the computer 12 may be attemptingto communicate, such as memory (RAM 24 or ROM 26), an externalcommunications port 39, or the like.) For example, each of four bits inthe particular register 40 can correspond to each of the up port 38 a,the right port 38 b, the left port 38 c or the down port 38 d. In suchcase, where there is a ‘1’ at any of those bit locations, communicationwill be set to proceed through the corresponding port 38. As previouslydiscussed herein, in the present embodiment of the invention it isanticipated that a read opcode might set more than one port 38 forcommunication in a single instruction while, although it is possible, itis not anticipated that a write opcode will set more than one port 38for communication in a single instruction.

The immediately following example will assume a communication whereincomputer 12 e is attempting to write to computer 12 c, although theexample is applicable to communication between any adjacent computers12. When a write instruction is executed in a writing computer 12 e, theselected write line 20 (in this example, the write line 20 betweencomputers 12 e and 12 c) is set high, if the corresponding read line 18is already high then data is immediately sent from the selected locationthrough the selected communications port 38. Alternatively, if thecorresponding read line 18 is not already high, then computer 12 e willsimply stop operation until the corresponding read line 18 does go high.The mechanism for stopping (or, more accurately, not enabling furtheroperations of) the computer 12 a when there is a read or write typeinstruction has been discussed previously herein. In short, the opcodeof the instruction 52 will have a ‘0’ at bit position i4 66, and so thefirst OR gate input 62 of the OR gate 60 is low, and so the slotsequencer 42 is not triggered to generate an enabling pulse.

As for how the operation of the computer 12 e is resumed when a read orwrite type instruction is completed, the mechanism for that is asfollows: When both the read line 18 and the corresponding write line 20between computers 12 e and 12 c are high, then both lines 18 and 20 willreleased by each of the respective computers 12 that is holding it high.(In this example, the sending computer 12 e will be holding the writeline 18 high while the receiving computer 12 c will be holding the readline 20 high). Then the receiving computer 12 c will pull both lines 18and 20 low. In actual practice, the receiving computer 12 c may attemptto pull the lines 18 and 20 low before the sending computer 12 e hasreleased the write line 18. However, since the lines 18 and 20 arepulled high and only weakly held (latched) low, any attempt to pull aline 18 or 20 low will not actually succeed until that line 18 or 20 isreleased by the computer 12 that is holding it high.

When both lines 18 and 20 in a data bus 16 are pulled low, this is an“acknowledge” condition. Each of the computers 12 e and 12 c will, uponthe acknowledge condition, set its own internal acknowledge line 72high. As can be seen in the view of FIG. 5, the acknowledge line 72provides the second OR gate input 64. Since an input to either of the ORgate 60 inputs 62 or 64 will cause the output of the OR gate 60 to gohigh, this will initiate operation of the slot sequencer 42 in themanner previously described herein, such that the instruction 52 in thenext slot 54 of the instruction word 48 will be executed. Theacknowledge line 72 stays high until the next instruction 52 is decoded,in order to prevent spurious addresses from reaching the address bus.

In any case when the instruction 52 being executed is in the slot threeposition of the instruction word 48, the computer 12 will fetch the nextawaiting eighteen-bit instruction word 48 unless, of course, bit i4 66is a ‘0’ or, also, unless the instruction in slot three is a “next”instruction, which will be discussed in more detail hereinafter.

In actual practice, the present inventive mechanism includes a methodand apparatus for “prefetching” instructions such that the fetch canbegin before the end of the execution of all instructions 52 in theinstruction word 48. However, this also is not a necessary aspect of thepresently described invention.

The above example wherein computer 12 e is writing to computer 12 c hasbeen described in detail. As can be appreciated in light of the abovediscussion, the operations are essentially the same whether computer 12e attempts to write to computer 12 c first, or whether computer 12 cfirst attempts to read from computer 12 e. The operation cannot becompleted until both computers 12 e and 12 c are ready, and whichevercomputer 12 e or 12 c is ready first simply “goes to sleep” until theother computer 12 e or 12 c completes the transfer. Another way oflooking at the above described process is that, actually, both thewriting computer 12 e and the receiving computer 12 c go to sleep whenthey execute the write and read instructions, respectively, but the lastone to enter into the transaction reawakens nearly instantaneously whenboth the read line 18 and the write line 20 are high, whereas the firstcomputer 12 to initiate the transaction can stay asleep nearlyindefinitely until the second computer 12 is ready to complete theprocess.

The inventor believes that a key feature for enabling efficientasynchronous communications between devices is some sort of acknowledgesignal or condition. In the prior art, most communication betweendevices has been clocked and there is no direct way for a sending deviceto know that the receiving device has properly received the data.Methods such as checksum operations may have been used to attempt toinsure that data is correctly received, but the sending device has nodirect indication that the operation is completed. The present inventivemethod, as described herein, provides the necessary acknowledgecondition that allows, or at least makes practical, asynchronouscommunications between the devices. Furthermore, the acknowledgecondition also makes it possible for one or more of the devices to “goto sleep” until the acknowledge condition occurs. Of course, anacknowledge condition could be communicated between the computers 12 bya separate signal being sent between the computers 12 (either over theinterconnecting data bus 16 or over a separate signal line), and such anacknowledge signal would be within the scope of this aspect of thepresent invention.

However, according to the embodiment of the invention described herein,it can be appreciated that there is even more economy involved here, inthat the method for acknowledgement does not require any additionalsignal, clock cycle, timing pulse, or any such resource beyond thatdescribed, to actually effect the communication. Since four instructions52 can be included in an instruction word 48 and since, according to thepresent invention, an entire instruction word 48 can be communicated atone time between computers 12, this presents an ideal opportunity fortransmitting a very small program in one operation. For example most ofa small “For/Next” loop can be implemented in a single instruction word48. FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic representation of a micro-loop 100. Themicro-loop 100, not unlike other prior art loops, has a FOR instruction102 and a NEXT instruction 104. Since an instruction word 48 (FIG. 4)contains as many as four instructions 52, an instruction word 48 caninclude three operation instructions 106 within a single instructionword 48. The operation instructions 106 can be essentially any of theavailable instructions that a programmer might want to include in themicro-loop 100. A typical example of a micro-loop 100 that might betransmitted from one computer 12 to another might be a set ofinstructions for reading from, or writing to the RAM 24 of the secondcomputer 12, such that the first computer 12 could “borrow” availableRAM 24 capacity.

The FOR instruction 102 pushes a value onto the return stack 28representing the number of iterations desired. That is, the value on theT register 44 at the top of the data stack 34 is PUSHed into the Rregister 29 of the return stack 28. The FOR instruction 102, while oftenlocated in slot three 54 d of an instruction word 48 can, in fact, belocated in any slot 54. Where the FOR instruction 102 is not located inslot three 54 d, then the remaining instructions 52 in that instructionword 48 will be executed before going on to the micro-loop 100, whichwill generally be the next loaded instruction word 48.

According to the presently described embodiment of the invention, theNEXT instruction 104 depicted in the view of FIG. 6 is a particular typeof NEXT instruction 104. This is because it is located in slot three 54d (FIG. 4). According to this embodiment of the invention, it is assumedthat all of the data in a particular instruction word 40 that follows an“ordinary” NEXT instruction (not shown) is an address (the address wherethe for/next loop begins). The opcode for the NEXT instruction 104 isthe same, no matter which of the four slots 54 it is in (with theobvious exception that the first two digits are assumed if it is slotthree 54 d, rather than being explicitly written, as discussedpreviously herein). However, since there can be no address datafollowing the NEXT instruction 104 when it is in slot three 54 d, it canbe also assumed that the NEXT instruction 104 in slot three 54 d is aMICRO-NEXT instruction 104 a. The MICRO-NEXT instruction 104 a uses theaddress of the first instruction 52, located in slot zero 54 a of thesame instruction word 48 in which it is located, as the address to whichto return. The MICRO-NEXT INSTRUCTION 104 a also takes the value fromthe R register 29 (which was originally PUSHed there by the FORinstruction 102), decrements it by 1, and then returns it to the Rregister 29. When the value on the R register 29 reaches a predeterminedvalue (such as zero), then the MICRO-NEXT instruction will load the nextinstruction word 48 and continue on as described previously herein.However, when the MICRO-NEXT instruction 104 a reads a value from the Rregister 29 that is greater than the predetermined value, it will resumeoperation at slot zero 54 a of its own instruction word 48 and executethe three instructions 52 located in slots zero through three,inclusive, thereof. That is, a MICRO-NEXT instruction 104 a will always,in this embodiment of the invention, execute three operationinstructions 106. Because, in some instances, it may not be desired touse all three potentially available instructions 52, a “no-op”instruction is available to fill one or two of the slots 54, asrequired.

It should be noted that micro-loops 100 can be used entirely within asingle computer 12. Indeed, the entire set of available machine languageinstructions is available for use as the operation instructions 106, andthe application and use of micro-loops is limited only by theimagination of the programmer. However, when the ability to execute anentire micro-loop 100 within a single instruction word 48 is combinedwith the ability to allow a computer 12 to send the instruction word 48to a neighbor computer 12 to execute the instructions 52 thereinessentially directly from the data bus 16, this provides a powerful toolfor allowing a computer 12 to utilize the resources of its neighbors.

The small micro-loop 100, all contained within the single data word 48,can be communicated between computers 12, as described herein and it canbe executed directly from the communications port 38 of the receivingcompute 12, just like any other set of instructions contained in ainstruction word 48, as described herein.

While there are many uses for this sort of “micro-loop” 100, a typicaluse would be where one computer 12 wants to store some data onto thememory of a neighbor computer 12. It could, for example, first send aninstruction to that neighbor computer telling it to store a incomingdata word to a particular memory address, then increment that address,then repeat for a given number of iterations (the number of data wordsto be transmitted). To read the data back, the first computer would justinstruct the second computer (the one used for storage here) to writethe stored data back to the first computer, using a similar micro-loop.

By using the micro-loop 100 structure in conjunction with the directexecution aspect described herein, a computer 12 can use an otherwiseresting neighbor computer 12 for storage of excess data when the datastorage need exceeds the relatively small capacity built into eachindividual computer 12. While this example has been described in termsof data storage, the same technique can equally be used to allow acomputer 12 to have its neighbor share its computational resources—bycreating a micro-loop 100 that causes the other computer 12 to performsome operations, store the result, and repeat a given number of times.As can be appreciated, the number of ways in which this inventivemicro-loop 100 structure can be used is nearly infinite.

As previously mentioned herein, in the presently described embodiment ofthe invention, either data or instructions can be communicated in themanner described herein and instructions can, therefore, be executedessentially directly from the data bus 16. That is, there is no need tostore instructions to RAM 24 and then recall them before execution.Instead, according to this aspect of the invention, an instruction word48 that is received on a communications port 38 is not treatedessentially differently than it would be were it recalled from RAM 24 orROM 26. While this lack of a difference is revealed in the priordiscussion, herein, concerning the described operation of the computers12, the following more specific discussion of how instruction words 48are fetched and used will aid in the understanding of the invention.

One of the available machine language instructions is a FETCHinstruction. The FETCH instruction uses the address on the A register 40a to determine from where to fetch an 18 bit word. Of course, theprogram will have to have already provided for placing the correctaddress on the A register 40 a. As previously discussed herein, the Aregister 40 a is an 18 bit register, such that there is a sufficientrange of address data available that any of the potential sources fromwhich a fetch can occur can be differentiated. That is, there is a rangeof addresses assigned to ROM, a different range of addresses assigned toRAM, and there are specific addresses for each of the ports 38 and forthe external I/O port 39. A FETCH instruction always places the 18 bitsthat it fetches on the T register 44.

In contrast, as previously discussed herein, executable instructions (asopposed to data) are temporarily stored in the instruction register 30a. There is no specific command for “fetching” an 18 bit instructionword 48 into the instruction register 30 a. Instead, when there are nomore executable instructions left in the instruction register 30 a, thenthe computer will automatically fetch the “next” instruction word 48.Where that “next” instruction word is located is determined by the“program counter” (the P register 40 c). The P register 40 c is oftenautomatically incremented, as is the case where a sequence ofinstruction words 48 is to be fetched from RAM 24 or ROM 26. However,there are a number of exceptions to this general rule. For example, aJUMP or CALL instruction will cause the P register 40 c to be loadedwith the address designated by the data in the remainder of thepresently loaded instruction word 48 after the JUMP or CALL instruction,rather than being incremented. When the P register 40 c is then loadedwith an address corresponding to one or more of the ports 38, then thenext instruction word 48 will be loaded into the instruction register 30a from the ports 38. The P register 40 c also does not increment when aninstruction word 48 has just been retrieved from a port 38 into theinstruction register 30 a. Rather, it will continue to retain that sameport address until a specific JUMP or CALL instruction is executed tochange the P register 40 c. That is, once the computer 12 is told tolook for its next instruction from a port 38, it will continue to lookfor instructions from that same port 38 (or ports 38) until it is toldto look elsewhere, such as back to the memory (RAM 24 or ROM 26) for itsnext instruction word 48.

As noted above, the computer 12 knows that the next eighteen bitsfetched is to be placed in the instruction register 30 a when there areno more executable instructions left in the present instruction word 48.By default, there are no more executable instructions left in thepresent instruction word 48 after a JUMP or CALL instruction (or alsoafter certain other instructions that will not be specifically discussedhere) because, by definition, the remainder of the 18 bit instructionword following a JUMP or CALL instruction is dedicated to the addressreferred to by the JUMP or CALL instruction. Another way of stating thisis that the above described processes are unique in many ways, includingbut not limited to the fact that a JUMP or CALL instruction can,optionally, be to a port 38, rather than to just a memory address, orthe like.

It should be remembered that, as discussed previously herein, thecomputer 12 can look for its next instruction from one port 38 or fromany of a group of the ports 38. Therefore, addresses are provided tocorrespond to various combinations of the ports 38. When, for example, acomputer is told to fetch an instruction from a group of ports 38, thenit will accept the first available instruction word 48 from any of theselected ports 38. If no neighbor computer 12 has already attempted towrite to any of those ports 38, then the computer 12 in question will“go to sleep”, as described in detail above, until a neighbor does writeto the selected port 38.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram depicting an example of the above describeddirect execution method 120. A “normal” flow of operations will commencewhen, as discussed previously herein, there are no more executableinstructions left in the instruction register 30 a. At such time, thecomputer 12 will “fetch” another instruction word (note that the term“fetch” is used here in a general sense, in that an actual FETCHinstruction is not used), as indicated by a “fetch word” operation 122.That operation will be accomplished according to the address in the Pregister 40 c (as indicated by an “address” decision operation 124 inthe flow diagram of FIG. 7. If the address in the P register 40 c is aRAM 24 or ROM 26 address, then the next instruction word 48 will beretrieved from the designated memory location in a “fetch from memory”operation 126. If, on the other hand, the address in the P register 40 cis that of a port 38 or ports 38 (not a memory address) then the nextinstruction word 48 will be retrieved from the designated port locationin a “fetch from port” operation 128. In either case, the instructionword 48 being retrieved is placed in the instruction register 30 c in a“retrieve instruction word” operation 130. In an “execute instructionword” operation 132, the instructions in the slots 54 of the instructionword 48 are accomplished sequentially, as described previously herein.

In a “jump” decision operation 134 it is determined if one of theoperations in the instruction word 48 is a JUMP instruction, or otherinstruction that would divert operation away from the continued “normal”progression as discussed previously herein. If yes, then the addressprovided in the instruction word 48 after the JUMP (or other such)instruction is provided to the P register 40 c in a “load P register”operation 136, and the sequence begins again in the “fetch word”operation 122, as indicated in the diagram of FIG. 7. If no, then thenext action depends upon whether the last instruction fetch was from aport 38 or from a memory address, as indicated in a “port address”decision operation 138. If the last instruction fetch was from a port38, then no change is made to the P register 30 a and the sequence isrepeated starting with the “fetch word” operation 122. If, on the otherhand, the last instruction fetch was from a memory address (RAM 24 orROM 26), then the address in the P register 30 a is incremented, asindicated by an “increment P register” operation 140 in FIG. 7, beforethe “fetch word” operation 122 is accomplished.

The above description is not intended to represent actual operationalsteps. Instead, it is a diagram of the various decisions and operationsresulting there from that are performed according to the describedembodiment of the invention. Indeed, this flow diagram should not beunderstood to mean that each operation described and shown requires aseparate distinct sequential step. In fact many of the describedoperations in the flow diagram of FIG. 7 will, in practice, beaccomplished generally simultaneously.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram depicting an example of the inventive improvedmethod for alerting a computer. As previously discussed herein, thecomputers 12 of the embodiment described will “go to sleep” whileawaiting an input. Such an input can be from a neighboring computer 12,as in the embodiment described in relation to FIGS. 1 through 5.Alternatively, as was also discussed previously herein, the computers 12that have communication ports 38 that abut the edge of the die 14 canhave additional circuitry, either designed into such computer 12 or elseexternal to the computer 12 but associated therewith, to cause suchcommunication port 38 to act as an external I/O port 39. In either case,the inventive combination can provide the additional advantage that the“sleeping” computer 12 can be poised and ready to awaken and spring intosome prescribed action when an input is received. Therefore, thisinvention also provides an alternative to the use of interrupts tohandle inputs, whether such inputs come from an external input device,or from another computer 12 in the array 10.

Instead of causing a computer 12 to have to stop (or pause) what it isdoing in order to handle an interrupt, the inventive combinationdescribed herein will allow for a computer 12 to be in an “asleep butalert” state, as described above. Therefore, one or more computers 12can be assigned to receive and act upon certain inputs. While there arenumerous ways in which this feature might be used, an example that willserve to illustrate just one such “computer alert method” is illustratedin the view of FIG. 8 and is enumerated therein by the referencecharacter 150. As can be seen in the view of FIG. 8, in an “enter alertstate” operation 152, a computer 12 is caused to “go to sleep” such thatit is awaiting input from an neighbor computer 12, or more than one (asmany as all four) neighbor computers or, in the case of a “edge”computer 12 an external input, or some combination of external inputsand/or inputs from a neighbor computer 12. As described previouslyherein, a computer 12, can “go to sleep” awaiting completion of either aread or a write operation. Where the computer 12 is being used, asdescribed in this example, to await some possible “input”, then it wouldbe natural to assume that the waiting computer has set its read line 18high awaiting a “write” from the neighbor or outside source. Indeed, itis presently anticipated that this will be the usual condition. However,it is within the scope of the invention that the waiting computer 12will have set its write line 20 high and, therefore, that it will beawakened when the neighbor or outside source “reads” from it.

In an “awaken” operation 154, the sleeping computer 12 is caused toresume operation because the neighboring computer 12 or external device39 has completed the transaction being awaited. If the transaction beingawaited was the receipt of an instruction word 48 to be executed, thenthe computer 12 will proceed to execute the instructions therein. If thetransaction being awaited was the receipt of data, then the computer 12will proceed to execute the next instruction in queue, which will beeither the instruction in the next slot 54 in the present instructionword 48, or else the next instruction word 48 will be loaded and thenext instruction will be in slot 0 of that next instruction word 48. Inany case, while being used in the described manner, then that nextinstruction will begin a sequence of one or more instructions forhandling the input just received. Options for handling such input caninclude reacting to perform some predefined function internally,communicating with one or more of the other computers 12 in the array10, or even ignoring the input (just as conventional prior artinterrupts may be ignored under prescribed conditions). The options aredepicted in the view of FIG. 8 as an “act on input” operation 156. Itshould be noted that, in some instances, the content of the input maynot be important. In some cases, for example, it may be only the veryfact that an external device has attempted communication that is ofinterest.

If the computer 12 is assigned the task of acting as an “alert”computer, in the manner depicted in FIG. 8, then it will generallyreturn to the “asleep but alert” status, as indicated in FIG. 8.However, the option is always open to assign the computer 12 some othertask, such as when it is no longer necessary to monitor the particularinput or inputs there being monitored, or when it is more convenient totransfer that task to some other of the computers 12 in the array.

One skilled in the art will recognize that this above describedoperating mode will be useful as a more efficient alternative to theconventional use of interrupts. When a computer 12 has one or more ofits read lines 18 (or a write line 20) set high, it can be said to be an“alert” condition. In the alert condition, the computer 12 is ready toimmediately execute any instruction sent to it on the data bus 16corresponding to the read line or lines 18 that are set high or,alternatively, to act on data that is transferred over the data bus 16.Where there is an array of computers 12 available, one or more can beused, at any given time, to be in the above described alert conditionsuch that any of a prescribed set of inputs will trigger it into action.This is preferable to using the conventional interrupt technique to “getthe attention” of a computer, because an interrupt will cause a computerto have to store certain data, load certain data, and so on, in responseto the interrupt request. While, according to the present invention, acomputer can be placed in the alert condition and dedicated to awaitingthe input of interest, such that not a single instruction period iswasted in beginning execution of the instructions triggered by suchinput. Again, note that in the presently described embodiment, computersin the alert condition will actually be “asleep but alert”, meaning thatthey are “asleep” in the sense that they are using essentially no power,but “alert” in that they will be instantly triggered into action by aninput. However, it is within the scope of this aspect of the inventionthat the “alert” condition could be embodied in a computer even if itwere not “asleep”. The described alert condition can be used inessentially any situation where a conventional prior art interrupt(either a hardware interrupt or a software interrupt) might haveotherwise been used.

FIG. 9 is another example of a computer alert method 150 a. This is butone example wherein interaction between a monitoring computer 12 f(FIG. 1) and another computer 12 g (FIG. 1) that is assigned to someother task may be desirable or necessary. As can be seen in the view ofFIG. 9, there are two generally independent flow charts, one for each ofthe computers 12 f and 12 g. This is indicative of the nature of thecooperative coprocessor approach of the present invention, wherein eachof the computers 12 has its own assignment which it carries outgenerally independently, except for occasions when interaction isaccomplished as described herein.

Regarding the computer 12 f, the “enter alert status” operation 152, the“awaken” operation 154 and the “act on input” operation each areaccomplished as described previously herein in relation to the firstexample of the computer alert method 150. However, because this exampleanticipates a possible need for interaction between the computers 12 fand 12 g, then following the “act on input” operation 156, the computer12 f enters a “send info?” decision operation 158 wherein, according toits programming, it is determined if the input just received requiresthe attention of the other computer 12 g. If no, then the computer 12 freturns to alert status, or some other alternative such as was discussedpreviously herein. If yes, then the computer 12 f initiatescommunication with the computer 12 g as described in detail previouslyherein in a “send to other” operation 160. It should be noted that,according to the choice of the programmer, the computer 12 f could besending instructions such as it may have generated internally inresponse to the input from the external device 82 or such as it may havereceived from the external device 82.

Alternatively, the computer 12 f could pass on data to the computer 12 gand such data could be internally generated in computer 12 f or else“passed through” from the external device 82. Still another alternativemight be that the computer 12 f, in some situations, might attempt toread from the computer 12 g when it receives an input from the externaldevice 82. All of these opportunities are available to the programmer.

Meanwhile, the computer 12 g is generally executing code to accomplishits assigned primary task, whatever that might be, as indicated in an“execute primary function” operation 162. However, if the programmer hasdecided that occasional interaction between the computers 12 f and 12 gis desirable, then the programmer will have provided that the computer12 g occasionally pause to see if one or more of its neighbors hasattempted a communication, as indicated in a “look for input” operation166. As indicated by an “input?” decision operation 158, if there is acommunication waiting (as, for example, if the computer 12 f has alreadyinitiated a write to the computer 12 g). If there has been acommunication initiated (yes) then the computer 12 g will complete thecommunication, as described in detail previously herein, in a “receivefrom other” operation 170. If no, then the computer 12 g will return tothe execution of its primary function 162, as shown in FIG. 9. After the“receive from other” operation 170, the computer 12 g will act on theinput received in an “act on input” operation 172. As mentioned above,the programmer could have provided that the computer 12 g would beexpecting instructions as in input, in which case the computer 12 gwould execute the instructions as described previously herein.Alternatively, the computer 12 g might be programmed to be expectingdata to act upon.

In the example of FIG. 9, it is shown that following the “act on input”operation 172, then the computer 12 g returns to the accomplishment ofits primary function (that is, it returns to the “execute primaryfunction” operation 162). However the possibility of even morecomplicated examples certainly exists. For instance, the programmingmight be such that certain inputs received from the computer 12 f willcause it to abort its previously assigned primary function and begin anew one, or else it might simply temporarily stop and await furtherinput. As one skilled in the art will recognize, the variouspossibilities for action here are limited only by the imagination of theprogrammer.

It should be noted that, according to the embodiment of the inventiondescribed herein, a given computer 12 need not be interrupted while itis performing a task because another computer 12 is assigned the task ofmonitoring and handling inputs that might otherwise require aninterrupt. However, it is interesting to note also that the computer 12that is busy handling another task also cannot be disturbed unless anduntil its programming provides that it look to its ports 38 for input.Therefore, it will sometimes be desirable to cause the computer 12 topause to look for other inputs. It is important to realize that what isbeing described here is an example of a paradigm in computing that mightbe described as “cooperative multi-tasking” wherein tasks that mightformerly have been accomplished by a single processor are divided, innew an interesting ways, among several processors.

Various modifications may be made to the invention without altering itsvalue or scope. For example, while this invention has been describedherein using the example of the particular computers 12, many or all ofthe inventive aspects are readily adaptable to other computer designs,other sorts of computer arrays, and the like.

Similarly, while the present invention has been described primarilyherein in relation to communications between computers 12 in an array 10on a single die 14, the same principles and methods can be used, ormodified for use, to accomplish other inter-device communications, suchas communications between a computer 12 and its dedicated memory orbetween a computer 12 in an array 10 and an external device.

While specific examples of the inventive computer arrays 10, computers12, micro-loops 100, direct execution method 120 and associatedapparatus, and computer alert method 150 have been discussed herein, itis expected that there will be a great many applications for these whichhave not yet been envisioned. Indeed, it is one of the advantages of thepresent invention that the inventive method and apparatus may be adaptedto a great variety of uses.

All of the above are only some of the examples of available embodimentsof the present invention. Those skilled in the art will readily observethat numerous other modifications and alterations may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, thedisclosure herein is not intended as limiting and the appended claimsare to be interpreted as encompassing the entire scope of the invention.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The inventive computer arrays 10, computers 12, micro-loops 100, directexecution method 120 and associated apparatus, and computer alert method150 are intended to be widely used in a great variety of computerapplications. It is expected that they will be particularly useful inapplications where significant computing power is required, and yetpower consumption and heat production are important considerations.

As discussed previously herein, the applicability of the presentinvention is such that the sharing of information and resources betweenthe computers in an array is greatly enhanced, both in speed aversatility. Also, communications between a computer array and otherdevices is enhanced according to the described method and means.

Since the computer arrays 10, computers 12, micro-loops 100, directexecution method 120 and associated apparatus, and computer alert method150 of the present invention may be readily produced and integrated withexisting tasks, input/output devices, and the like, and since theadvantages as described herein are provided, it is expected that theywill be readily accepted in the industry. For these and other reasons,it is expected that the utility and industrial applicability of theinvention will be both significant in scope and long-lasting induration.

CORRESPONDENCE CHART

-   10 computer array-   12 computers-   14 die-   16 data bus-   18 read line-   20 write line-   22 data lines-   24 RAM-   26 ROM-   28 return stack-   28 a circular register array-   29 R register-   30 instruction area-   3 oa instruction register-   30 b opcode register-   32 ALU-   34 data stack-   34 a circular register array-   36 decode section-   38 internal communications port-   38 a up port-   38 b right port-   38 c left port-   38 d down port-   39 external I/O port-   40 registers-   40 a A register-   40 b B register-   40 c P register-   42 slot sequencer-   44 T register-   46 S register-   48 instruction word-   50 bits-   52 instructions-   54 slots-   54 a slot 0-   54 b slot 1-   54 c slot 2-   54 d slot 3-   56 inverters-   58 NAND gate-   60 OR gate-   62 first OR gate input-   64 second OR gate input-   66 i4 bit-   68 slot sequencer output-   70 pulse generator-   72 acknowledge line-   80 interface circuitry-   82 external device-   100 micro-loop-   102 FOR instruction-   104 NEXT instruction-   106 operation instruction-   108 MICRO-NEXT instruction-   120 direct execution method-   122 “fetch word” operation-   124 “address?” decision operation-   126 “fetch from memory” operation-   128 “fetch from port” operation-   130 “retrieve instruction word” operation-   132 “execute instruction word” operation-   134 “jump?” decision operation-   136 “load P register” operation-   138 “port address?” decision operation-   140 “increment P register” operation-   150 computer alert method-   150 a computer alert method-   152 “enter alert status” operation-   154 “awaken” operation-   156 “act on input” operation-   158 “send info?” decision operation-   160 “send to other” operation-   162 “execute primary function” operation-   166 “look for input” operation-   168 “input” decision operation-   170 “receive from other” operation-   172 “act on input” operation

1. A method for handling data blocks in a computer, comprising: fetchinga data block from an address, wherein the address can be either anaddress of a memory location or an address of a port; if said data blockcontains a group of instructions then providing said data block to aninstruction register; and if said data block contains data rather thaninstructions then providing said data block to the top of a data stack.2. The method of claim 1, wherein the question of whether said datablock contains a group of instructions or data is determined by whetherthe last instruction in a previous group of instructions has beenexecuted.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein when the last instruction insaid previous group of instructions has been executed then it isdetermined that the data block contains a group of instructions.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the data stack is a primary data stack. 5.The method of claim 1, further comprising executing instructions fromsaid group of instructions from the instruction register when said datablock contains said group of instructions.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein said group of instructions also contains data.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: providing said computer; and wherein saidcomputer is one of a plurality of computers integrated on a unitarysubstrate; and said computer includes said port, said instructionregister, said data stack, and a processor for executing groups ofinstructions from said instruction register.
 8. A non-transitory,electronically-readable storage medium having code embodied therein forcausing an electronic device to handle data blocks, said code operativeto cause said electronic device to: fetch a data block from an address,wherein the address is sometimes an address of a memory location andother times an address of a port; provide said data block to aninstruction register if said data block contains a group ofinstructions; and provide said data block to the top of a data stack ifsaid data block contains data rather than instructions.
 9. Theelectronically-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the questionof whether said data block contains a group of instructions or data isdetermined by whether the last instruction in a previous group ofinstructions has been executed.
 10. The electronically-readable storagemedium of claim 9, wherein when the last instruction in said previousgroup of instructions has been executed then it is determined that thedata block contains a group of instructions.
 11. Theelectronically-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the datastack is a primary data stack.
 12. The electronically-readable storagemedium of claim 8, wherein said code is further operative to cause saidelectronic device to execute instructions from said group ofinstructions from the instruction register when said data block containssaid group of instructions.
 13. The electronically-readable storagemedium of claim 8, wherein said group of instructions also containsdata.
 14. The electronically-readable storage medium of claim 8,wherein: said electronic device is a computer; said computer is one of aplurality of computers integrated on a unitary substrate; and saidcomputer includes said port, said instruction register, said data stack,and a processor for executing groups of instructions from saidinstruction register.
 15. A computer comprising: an instruction registerfor storing groups of instructions to be executed; a processor; a datastack; a communication port; and logic to fetch a data block from anaddress, the address sometimes being an address of a memory location andother times being an address of said communication port; and wherein ifsaid data block contains a group of instructions, then said data blockis provided to said instruction register; and if said data blockcontains data rather than instructions, then said data block is providedto the top of said data stack.
 16. The computer of claim 15, wherein thequestion of whether said data block contains a group of instructions ordata is determined by whether the last instruction in a previous groupof instructions has been executed.
 17. The computer of claim 16, whereinwhen the last instruction in said previous group of instructions hasbeen executed then it is determined that the data block contains a groupof instructions.
 18. The computer of claim 15, wherein the data stack isa primary data stack.
 19. The computer of claim 15, wherein saidprocessor executes instructions from said group of instructions fromsaid instruction register when said data block contains said group ofinstructions.
 20. The computer of claim 15, wherein said group ofinstructions also contains data.
 21. The computer of claim 15, whereinsaid computer is one of a plurality of computers integrated on a unitarysubstrate.
 22. A computer comprising: an instruction register forstoring groups of instructions to be executed; a processor; a datastack; a communication port; and means for fetching a data block from anaddress, the address sometimes being an address of a memory location andother times being an address of said communication port; means forproviding said data block to said instruction register when said datablock contains a group of instructions; and means for providing saiddata block to the top of said data stack when said data block containsdata rather than instructions.